Baylor replaces Mizzou at No. 5 in AP poll

Posted by John Taylor on October 27, 2013, 2:48 PM EDT

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For the first time in 60 years, Baylor has returned to the top half of the Top 10 of the Associated Press weekly poll.

Thanks to Missouri’s heartbreaking overtime loss to South Carolina Saturday, the Bears took over the Tigers’ spot at No. 5. It’s Baylor’s highest AP ranking since it was No. 3 in 1953. The Bears’ No. 6 ranking a week ago was the program’s highest since Jan. 1, 1980.

Mizzou landed four spots lower at No. 10.

As expected, there wasn’t much change ahead of that spot as Alabama (No. 1), Oregon (No. 2), Florida State (No. 3) and Ohio State (No. 4) stayed steady from a week ago. One-loss Stanford actually leapfrogged unbeaten Miami, moving up two spots to No. 6 while the No. 7 Hurricanes are where they were after Week 8.

Another of this week’s leaping frogs is Auburn, which climbed up three spots into the Top 10 at No. 8. The Tigers benefited from both Mizzou’s loss as well as one suffered by previously-unbeaten Texas Tech, which fell from No. 10 to No. 15.

Clemson is the other member of this week’s Top Ten, maintaining the Week 8 status quo at No. 9.

As far as first-place votes are concerned, there is no change from last weekend as Alabama (55), Oregon (three) and Florida State (two) hold the same number as they did seven days ago.

Outside of the Top 10, South Carolina and Oklahoma made the biggest moves up in the latest poll, climbing six and four spots to No. 14 and No. 13, respectively. LSU (No. 11), Texas A&M (No. 12), UCF (No. 19) and Northern Illinois (No. 21) were each bumped up two spots apiece. On the opposite end of the spectrum, UCLA plunged five spots to No. 17.

Interestingly, Fresno State and Louisville dropped despite wins: the Bulldogs to No. 15 from No. 16, the Cardinals from No. 18 to No. 20.

As was the case in the coaches’ poll, Virginia Tech (No. 16) and Nebraska (No. 25) were knocked out of the Top 25 after losses. They were replaced by Michigan State (No. 24) and Arizona State (No. 25).

Perhaps because ND barely beat them at home, so voters consider them roughly equal. On the other hand, comparing what they did against USC, some might think ASU is better.

ASU’s other loss was to Stanford. So it isn’t as if they have a bad loss, either. Losing at Stanford and at ND doesn’t compare unfavorable to losing at Michigan and at home to Oklahoma. And ND has 3 wins against teams that are combined 3-20.

ND’s quality wins are MSU and ASU. ASU has wins against Wisconsin and Washington.

Art Briles did what myself and many people thought couldn’t be done. Made Waco, Texas relevant for the first time since the Branch Davidians! In Hell, David Koresh realizes that Waco is no longer the town he almost ruined, and now is a hip, trendy major college football town off I-35!
Too bad an hour away in Austin, is the biggest powerhouse in the nation!